I wanted to say that a business on a nearby street is still having cars parked all up and down the street; 10 p.m. and they’re still parked there. They’ve been there all day long. They’re blocking the view of people who want to turn onto the lane going south.

See response below.—JAC

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This is Lombard calling about what to do about a business that illegally parks on a residential corner. There are three or four cars that constantly block the view of anyone trying to make a left-hand turn. I wish someone in village government would answer this question because this, I believe, is a major dangerous situation.

Joan Rogers, of Code Enforcement, addressed your concern: “Please contact Code Enforcement at 630-620-5749 with a specific complaint. In general, home businesses are restricted to maintain the residential character of the neighborhood. The requirements, which can be found at the village Web site, restrict the number of visitors associated with the business to no more than two at a time and prohibit visitors associated with the business between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. If the vehicles are being parked on the street illegally, please call the police department with the location of the vehicles.”—JAC

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This is Lombard calling. Just saying, streets are for cars, sidewalks are for walking people, but where do skaters go? You tell me.

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I’m calling from Lombard but this applies to everybody. All government is ridiculous these days. My wages have been cut, my hours reduced, my pension’s down, and I read in the paper about the 145 village employees we have making over $75,000. Are their wages cut? Are their hours reduced? Are we looking at any of this? Is the government looking at any of this? My $290,000 house is now worth less than $250,000. My taxes go up, I have to pay more for taxes. Is it just to support these people? The government needs to take better care of us. Our trustees need to do a better job. Lombardian, maybe you could help by paying better attention to where this money’s being spent. The same thing where they say these salaries, they’re showing the millions of dollars we’re in deficit—losing on the pension fund, we spent more on capital projects than we took in. It’s ridiculous.

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Hello, this is Villa Park. I’d just like to talk about the job that A. Lamp Construction Co. put the sidewalks in on Madison Street. They just finished. In two weeks they did a really good job; professional, nobody stood around, everybody knew his job and did it, and I’d like to say they did a good job and deserve a pat on the back.

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To the person who called and said only veterans should get Veterans Day off, and that all others should be working—how, then, would most of us otherwise be able to attend ceremonies such as the ones held in Lombard and Villa Park? I, for one, want to go to these things to honor my family members who served in the military. I can think of other designated days off that would make more sense to eliminate than Veterans Day.

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What awesome playoff runs for some of our local teams. Congratulations to Montini on proving all the experts wrong and winning the 5A state title. Kudos to three of the Glenbard Schools as well. South made it to the quarter finals, North made it to the semi finals and West lost a double overtime heartbreaker in the 7A championship game. Hmmmm,  something seems to be missing there. Oh yeah—no Glenbard East. Yes, another missed playoff opportunity for the Rams. That's 10 years now since their last appearance. But hey, no reason to look for a new direction or anything when you have a head coach with an overall record of 60-106. This area produces good football talent as proven by the recent success of the Lombard Falcons at every level. What happens when those players get to East? They get put into an antiquated system the game has passed by. Please Glenbard East put some Ram Pride in the football program and find a new direction. All I want for Christmas is my three front men. A new football coach on the lakefront, in South Bend and in Lombard.

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Wake up, Lombard. District 44 is looking to raise our taxes again. Did you notice in the paper it was listed where their expenses go and how much money staff makes and where their money is spent? In this economy, when many, many residents have lost their job, staff working for District 44 make extremely good money and have excellent benefits—way better, probably, than most Lombardians do. How can they justify asking for more of our tax dollars? Can’t they learn to live within their means, just as we have to do?

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I was trying to watch some sports on the Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving, and people wonder why this is the downfall of America. Breaking news—Tiger Woods was seriously hurt in a one-car accident near his own property, running into a tree and a fire hydrant. Seriously injured. On his own property. This is breaking news? Tiger Woods? Please, give me a break. This is what’s wrong with America.

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Congratulations to Montini, the new 5A champs. Good job, guys.

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This is Lombard calling. I would like to say thank you to all the generous shoppers at Mr. Z’s who stopped and contributed to my collection for the Lombard Food Pantry. Together we collected $500.

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Hello, Lombard. Vote yes for video gambling. Why let the money go to Wisconsin and other towns around here? We need it worse than they do. Vote yes for video gambling.

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There have been plenty of political opinions on both sides expressed in SPEAK OUT and I think it’s pretty well established that people agree or disagree with the president and his administration; that people are Republican, Democrat, Independent or whatever. Nothing is going to get resolved here. In fact, it seems like whenever someone criticizes something about one party or politician, someone from the other side responds not by addressing the issue being brought up, but by instead pointing out a flaw in the opposing party. It just goes back and forth and accomplishes nothing. I think that we could use more of this space to focus on what’s happening closer to home in Lombard, Villa Park, the township, the county, etc. Surely there’s enough going on here to call in about. Just an observation and a suggestion.

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Greetings Lombard and goodbye. After my family bought a home and lived in the village since 1952, Lombard has finally discovered a way to make us leave. Almost 60 years of paying, Lombard, county, state and federal taxes, Lombard has now given me a bill for $11,395.38 for replacing our streets and putting in sidewalks. The last time our road was resurfaced was 1973; over 30 years later we finally get sidewalks and all of the years of paying taxes to the village covered what? Nothing. At Christmastime, in the middle of the worst recession in modern times, the village still demands an ounce of flesh. Good riddens; we’ll abandon the home and leave another wasting relic sitting in Lombard because leaving the home and not paying for what we have already paid for a thousand times over will damage our credit just as much either way.

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Lombard calling. Lombard police, you’re wasting your efforts on this right-turn cameras. What you need to do is put left-turn cameras at Roosevelt and Main off of Roosevelt, Roosevelt and Finley off of Roosevelt, Roosevelt and Meyers off of Roosevelt. There are cars that go through there on the red light; every single light, three or four of them go through. That’s where the danger is, not on the right turn on red—left turn on red.